Williams trounces Safina to regain Australian Open crown
Williams was in unstoppable form during the final in Melbourne
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Saturday, 31, Jan 2009 08:56
Serena Williams has regained the Australian Open title after crushing Dinara Safina 6-0 6-3 in Melbourne.
The victory gave Williams her fourth Australian Open title and her tenth grand slam singles crown of her career.
Williams will also replace Jelena Jankovic as world number one after the Serbian crashed out in the fourth round of the tournament.
Serena took just 22 minutes to win the first set as Safina struggled with her opponent's powerful hitting.
Two double-faults in the second game of the match by Safina handed an early advantage to Williams and she continued to pressurise the Russian throughout the first set.
Williams was able to hold her serve easily which then heaped more scrutiny onto Safina. More unforced errors gave Williams a double break and the American sealed the first set 6-0 as Safina looked to have given up hope.
However, at the start of the second set Safina showed signs that she could still cause trouble for Williams by breaking her for the first time in the match.
But just as the crowd got their hopes up the fragile Russian lost her serve twice on the trot to give the advantage straight back to Williams.
The American wasted little time in moving 4-1 ahead and although Safina managed to hold serve for the rest of the set she was unable to threaten Williams who cruised to victory.
It was a double delight in Melbourne for the 27-year-old who captured the doubles title with her sister Venus yesterday.